I'm sure he was good at hitting over the top, but outside Australia, there was nothing stopping fielding captains from putting the field back in the opening over if he felt he needed to. That was until the 1991/92 World Cup, and later in some countries.

Only a bunch of convicts having been beaten 3-0 and gone 9 tests without a win and won just 1 in 11 against England could go into the home series saying they will win. England will win in Australia again this winter as they are a better side which they have shown this summer. 3-0 doesn't lie girls.

Areas which don't allow the batsman to scoop it are notoriously difficult to find. Can you think of any (short of past leg-stump, which of course is a wide)?

I'd like to see a batsman scoop it from yorker length (I'll add on or just outside off stump after seeing the above video )

Tait's delivery was a little full and swinging down leg.

I'd think you have to get it up and outside off stump if a guy has been doing this sort of thing. It's got to be more difficult to do the more the batsman has to angle the bat sideways surely. Then put in a third man who's fine and hope for the best. Very simple in theory...

Last edited by Son Of Coco; 02-03-2010 at 08:02 PM.

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I'm sure he was good at hitting over the top, but outside Australia, there was nothing stopping fielding captains from putting the field back in the opening over if he felt he needed to. That was until the 1991/92 World Cup, and later in some countries.

It is still a legitimate tactic that would have reaped benefits even without fielding restrictions. By pushing the field back, you get easier access to singles early in your innings, and makes it easier for guys coming in later who are more likely to enter to more defensive fields.

Just because there wasn't powerplays in place doesn't mean that it was a tactic without similar logic.

I'm not saying it wasn't a legitimate tactic (did it really look like I was?), merely that hitting over the top of a field that is voluntarily in and hitting over the top of a field that is in because the regulations state it must be are two rather different things.

I'd like to see a batsman scoop it from yorker length (I'll add on or just outside off stump after seeing the above video )

I'd say it's easier to scoop such deliveries than to play most other shots. As a rule, that delivery is just about realistically impossible to score more than a single\two-if-you're-lucky off. That's why it's the ultimate death delivery.

However, almost no bowlers have ever been able to bowl such pinpoint deliveries as you identify with enough regularity. Wasim, de Villiers, Gough, Donald and a few others could, but that's about it.

I'm not saying it wasn't a legitimate tactic (did it really look like I was?), merely that hitting over the top of a field that is voluntarily in and hitting over the top of a field that is in because the regulations state it must be are two rather different things.

IMO it was because of Greenidge the rule came in, because he was willing to hit over the top in the first few overs (this is in Aus) teams who were used of slower starts and having the fielders up realised they had to put fielders back on the ropes to counter his hitting. It got to the point where teams (mainly Aus) would go on the defensive almost immediately to slow him down.

IMO it was because of Greenidge the rule came in, because he was willing to hit over the top in the first few overs (this is in Aus) teams who were used of slower starts and having the fielders up realised they had to put fielders back on the ropes to counter his hitting. It got to the point where teams (mainly Aus) would go on the defensive almost immediately to slow him down.

The rule was brought in because it was an idea of David Hill's to up viewing figures for WSC, UIMM. The Australian board then copied the idea, introducing it into their home ODIs after the post-WSC restoration, because it seemed like it had worked in WSC.

It only came into Worldwide use in 1991/92 because, in the World Cup, it was finally demonstrated on a global scale that it made the game more interesting. Not long after that World Cup, ODIs were govorned by a universal set of ICC-set rules, rather than by the home board.